True Regrets
by Steel and Ink
Summary: Rumpelstiltskin has always been cruel, dark, and angry...but perhaps, with someone, he wasn't. Rumpelstiltskin and Belle for Once Upon A Time. maybe one-shot, maybe not.
1. Chapter 1

Hi! So I'm totally hooked on Once Upon A Time, perhaps one of the best shows ever, even if it's kind of confusing unless you watch it from the very beginning.

lol hi. it's great.

anyway, tonight's episode was about Rumpelstiltskin and Belle and IT WAS THE BEST EPISODE I HAVE SEEN SO FAR. they're my new favorite, and then I got to thinking that maybe Rumpelstiltskin isn't so bad after all! This fic takes place about two weeks after the end of the episode that aired tonight and may just be a one-shot: please let me know if you would like more chapters!

As the bars slid open, Mr. Gold shot a grin at Sheriff Swan. "Told you I'd get out," he said with a devilish smirk, before tapping his cane on the floor and walking right out of the police station.

Today was a lovely day to visit the hospital- particularly his old friend Mr. French from the flower shop.

He strolled along the boulevard, quickly checking into his shop to make sure he hadn't been robbed again while in jail. Everything seemed to be in order, so he closed the door again and locked up just to be safe. He left the chipped teacup in the deep pocket on the inside of his jacket, where it had lived since the Queen returned it to him.

She knew his name now; that would be quite a problem, should she ever possess the dagger. Luckily only he knew its location, difficult to find as a stranger but simple enough if you knew Rumpelstiltskin's story. And fortunately, the Queen had yet to learn everything about him.

He continued on his way to the hospital, glancing about with curiosity at the sunlit world. He hadn't been outside in two weeks, and the world was strange to him. It was nearly a repeat of that moment when Belle drew aside the curtain…when suddenly his castle filled with light again.

Pausing in the middle of the sidewalk, Gold shook his head and cleared his mind of Belle. No sense thinking of her once again, for she had left him long ago. She wouldn't come back anyhow: she was dead.

His throat choked up, and he took a gasping breath, leaning heavily upon his cane. Every time he shut his eyes, two faces appeared: that of Belle and that of his son, perhaps the only two things he had truly loved since the Dark One possessed him.

After one last sigh and breath of fresh air, he opened his eyes again, meandering towards the hospital, more slowly this time. Moe French, the father of Belle in the other land, needed to be dealt with. Perhaps Gold would apologize for breaking the man's bones, even if the regret he planned to show wasn't genuine.

He stood outside the hospital for several minutes, with its towering glass windows along the sides and top and the smaller drains to the basements at the bottom. Life was full of curious surprises. If Gold's visit was one to French, he'd consider the scale balanced a bit, even if French didn't.

What he had done was justice, that was all: for French letting his daughter go without a fight, for shunning her once she returned to him, for driving her mad by locking her in a tower and leaving her no choice but to jump.

Again, Gold saw Belle's face: tearless and dry, but still racked with emotion as she forced out her last words to him: "You just don't believe that someone could love you. Well, you've made your choice- and you'll regret it forever."

He had let her go, just like that, without a farewell or good wish, perhaps even one last kiss to get him through the painful, lonely days he experienced after her departure.

Once, he hoped for a second chance: that if she ever returned to him he would give up everything, all his power and riches and strength, just to keep her from leaving again. Then the Queen came and informed him of his poor Belle's terrible fate, inflicted by her father's wrath.

Since that moment, Rumpelstiltskin had devoted himself only to revenge. He kept the teacup she had chipped on their first day together, his only reminder of her very existence. Sometimes he wondered if Belle had been real, or if she had really loved him: but always he remembered the feel of her lips on his, for the one brief moment the kiss had lasted. That had been real and true love, in that fleeting second: the magic people die for, live for, fight for.

Gold shivered in his spot, even with the March sun beating down on him, and wondered if Belle had ever considered the age difference. He was fifteen, perhaps twenty years older than she: had she even considered it?

She kissed him once, without a thought. He doubted it had ever crossed her mind.

"My Belle," he murmured to the air. "My love, how I miss you." He pressed his fingers against his lips, frozen for a long while, before turning and walking away from her father as fast as his legs and cane could carry him.


	2. Chapter 2

Hey! Positive reviews and many people wanted more chapters, so the story goes on!

(This is the part where you cheer like crazy)

Black shoes rested outside her window, shiny in the sunlight, and Belle stretched her neck forward, shifting her position on the cot ever so slightly to catch a glimpse of their owner.

Her eyes found a thin man, probably in his late thirties: obviously fit and well-cared for. His right hand gripped a gold-topped cane, and a slight limp was apparent when he stepped forward.

When she reached his face, she gasped: she knew that face from her past, lean and troubled with worry. The familiar impish grin still clung to his face, ageless and inviting, and she longed to sit by his side, to talk to him for hours and hours.

She wanted to see if he had regretted his choice.

This man's face was different from her beast's: sharper and more angular, sorrow and loss echoing through his expression. His eyes were closed as he murmured to himself, lost in self-thought. The wrinkles and laugh lines, caused by his life of trickery and pain, made him seem older than he really was.

She stretched her hand out, gripping the bar and pulling herself up with her weak, exhausted muscles, in order to get a better look at him. How she had missed him…it seemed like a hundred years or more since their kiss.

That one kiss. Belle shut her eyes, remembering the moment of pure elation when her lips had touched his: the warm glow that had shot through her body as true love cured her of all her pains. Did he still think of her? She knew he had loved her once, that much she knew by his near-mortal transformation. The only thing she didn't know was if he remembered her.

None of the other townsfolk had remembered her, not even her father. Everyone called her crazy, so the Evil Queen had brought her down to this little cell under a huge white building filled with shouting voices and flashing lights, and left her in this stone room with one nurse and one lame janitor to tend to her needs. The rest of the town had been happy to forget her again: no rebellious teenager had peered through the slats to her cell, no lost ball had rolled in from a child's game. She had been completely and utterly alone, trapped with only her memories of a happier life.

Belle sighed and opened her eyes. Her strength waned, and she knew she wouldn't be able to grip the bars for much longer, She shifted one hand, clasping the edge of the stone and jumping as it made a small slapping noise on contact.

His eyes sprang open, watered with tears about to fall, and as one rolled down his cheek, Belle could see his old skin hue: sparkling and gray in the late morning light. She wished he would curl his hair again. It was far better than the thin, sad array he possessed now.

It took her a moment to realize he had turned and was walking away.

"Wait!"

The cry slipped out of her before she had a chance to think. His figure, already distant, froze for a moment, and when he turned to face her again she could just make out his bewildered, heartbroken expression.

"Come back," she whispered into the breeze. "Come back, love."

And he came.

He recognized that voice, the sweet ringing of a bell in his ears. He knew only one girl with a voice like that: one that made his heart melt and his mind whirl and drove him even further into madness than he already was. As her face came into view, he knew at once the matted, curly brown hair and wide blue eyes of the girl that kept his feet firmly planted on the ground.

Gold arrived at the window again, kneeling down to get a better look at the wild young woman clinging desperately to the bars. Her strength faded, her energy spent from the lack of food and heat, and he grabbed her hand as she began to slip.

"There, Belle," he murmured into the cell. "I've got you."

She smiled at him. "You remember me- I'm so glad," she told him. "They called me crazy when I got here, because I remembered everything. They locked me away down here, it's awful-" A sudden creak cut her off mid-sentence, and familiar heels began to clack down the hallway outside.

Abruptly, Belle shoved Rumpelstiltskin away from the window. "It's the woman who put me here," she hissed. "Hide!"

Gold obeyed and dove around a corner wall of the hospital fifty yards away, surprisingly lithe for a man of his age. Then again, he was as powerful as a god.

He had a perfect view of the edge of Belle's form from here, and he could see her tense up as her captor paid a quick visit. A metal panel slammed, and Belle gestured to him through the bars again. He hobbled back and knelt before the window. "She's leaving- and she mustn't find you here with me," she warned him.

Soundlessly, he pressed his lips against her palm. "I'll get you out, dearie. I promise you that."

With that, Mr. Gold stood and strode back to his shop, already formulating his plan.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Gold's mind raced as he returned to his pawn shop. He wasn't entirely sure how to break Belle out of the little room under the hospital: the bars had screen paneling between them, the squares just the size for his hands and perhaps arms.

Perhaps some of the items in his shop could be of some use. He could simply will her out by magic, of course, but passersby would notice the random appearance of a girl in a white hospital gown in the middle of the sidewalk. Besides, there was no fun in that.

The bell tinkled as he swung the door open, heading straight for the counter. There was no need to check the inventory list: he knew the store by heart. Still, he didn't want anyone coming in and trying to figure out what he was up to.

Sheriff Swan, for instance. That young lady got on his nerves quite often with her unwavering sense of what she called "justice".

Rifling through the shelves, he found what he wanted and tucked it cautiously into the pocket of his jacket, making every effort not to harm the teacup. The decoder settled into place, not even changing the shape of his suit, and he grinned smugly to himself, letting out one of his old, familiar giggles.

That night, Gold drove his car to the hospital and went in the back entrance. He waved the security cameras away from his direction, heading straight for the one door he knew led downstairs. He glanced around, making sure none of the staff were watching, before holding the decoder up to the keypad and letting it scan the entry password into its system. Flashing numbers appeared on the little screen, and he smirked, pushing the buttons on the keypad in the correct combination.

The door swung open, revealing a set of cement stairs descending into a dark, artificially lit hallway. Fluorescent lights lit his path as he descended the short flight of steps and approached the administration area.

Behind the desk, a middle-aged woman, perhaps in her early forties, lay half-asleep in an office chair. The poor woman had dark, violently purple circles under her eyes: most likely Belle's only caretaker. Rumpelstiltskin let her sleep and continued his journey down a hallway. The corridor was lit even more dimly than the main office, the oval bulbs above his head flickering or dead.

A figure leapt out and grabbed Gold's arm, pressing their hand over his mouth before emerging completely from the shadows. The janitor, pale from the lack of sunlight, was someone Gold recognized: Sleepy the Dwarf, who had been missing for quite some time.

The ex-dwarf carefully examined Gold, looking him up and down before releasing the cupped hand over his mouth. "I do not want to know how you got in," Sleepy told him. "I just want to know why you are here."

Rumpelstiltskin gestured to the hallway around him, devoid of doors except for the open janitor's closet from which the dwarf had leapt. "I've come to set her free- wherever she is," he explained simply. "The poor dear must be miserable down in a place like this."

The janitor grunted, nodded, and unclasped his hand from around Gold's arm. "Follow me," he huffed, leading his new guest down the corridor. A set of keys jangled in his hands, the sound echoing through the faded blue area, and Rumpelstiltskin cringed, certain that at any moment the noise would wake the nurse. Still, no one followed them, and Sleepy kept right on jangling away.

A door appeared in front of them, with one small peephole into the room beyond. He pressed his eye to it and caught a glimpse of Belle, slumped half-asleep against the wall of the cell, her matted hair entangling her arms and legs. Gold grew hot with fury as he examined her little room: all stone, cold and unwelcoming, and a seemingly stiff mattress putting barely three inches between Belle and the hard wooden slats of the bed below. It was less of an asylum room than a prison, and he pressed his free hand against the door, leaning on his cane with the other.

Who had done this to his dear, dear Belle?

Sleepy offered him the keys, but Gold's rage made his hands tremble with anger, so the janitor took them back and slid them into the lock, opening the creaky metal door as quietly as he could.

The moment there was enough room for him to slip through, Gold did so, approaching the young woman curled up in a ball on the edge of the cot.

Tapping her shoulder, he poked her, then shook her until she startled awake. She glanced about, her eyes wide as those of a deer in a car's headlights, until finally relaxing and settling her gaze on him.

She sighed in relief. "You came back," she murmured gratefully, exhausted and numb from the cold cell.

Rumpelstiltskin smiled. "Naturally," he told her. "You did once. The least I could do is return the favor."

With that, he lifted her up in his surprisingly strong arms, nodding his thanks at the janitor before sprinting out of the hospital and into the night. Belle had fallen asleep on his shoulder, and he settled her into the passenger seat before climbing in and driving away into the night.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

The next morning, the mayor decided to pay a visit to her little inmate. She'd been down there quite a few times in the past couple of weeks, a dramatic number of increases, but now that she knew Rumpelstiltskin remembered his old life she needed to make sure he stayed unaware that Belle was alive.

She punched the code into the pad by the fake emergency exit door and listened to the lock click open, yanking it open and slipping through the smallest gap possible: she didn't want to risk being followed by some curious hospital worker.

Letting her heels clack loudly on the stairs, she was pleased to see the nurse standing at her station as according to orders.

What worried Regina was the solemn, troubled face the middle-aged woman wore. "What seems to be the matter?" she asked in her most political tone.

The nurse shifted her gaze to the paperwork laid out on her desk. "Well, I took her breakfast this morning as usual, but…she wasn't there. The door was closed and locked, the windows undamaged, and no stones in the walls were loose. She's gotten out somehow."

The mayor continued to shoot the woman an even stare. "And did anyone think to question the janitor? Perhaps he knew something." The nurse shook her head. "Yes, ma'am. I asked him just a half-hour ago. He didn't see anything unusual. Of course, he could have fallen asleep over his broom again."

Regina's lip twitched: she was most definitely unhappy that her prisoner had gotten out. She couldn't exactly spread the word around town: people would not be excited about the crazy young woman running about town again. No, she would have to deal with this on her own: even without the assistance of the sheriff. If she wanted to keep that annoying Miss Swan obedient, she needed to hide all evidence against her, and a crude stone cell where a young girl was kept prisoner didn't exactly work in the Mayor's favor.

Keeping her wits about her, she nodded at the nurse and began to exit. "I'll go look for her," she stated calmly. "Please stay here and continue looking for however she got out. Have you checked the motion sensor system?"

The middle-aged woman shook her head. "No, I haven't. I was about to." The Mayor nodded. "Marvelous. Call me when you get the upload of the footage files into a visual: that should give us some insight on how she got away."

With that, she exited up the stairs once again and threw herself into her car, determined to find that girl and drag her back dead or alive.

Across town, Belle brushed the hair out of her face and sat up, startled for a moment by her surroundings. Long gold curtains covered the window to her left as she lay in a small, narrow bed, covered with thick red comforters and soft, silken sheets: the most comfortable thing she'd experienced since her transition here. She sighed and leaned back in the bed, feeling for all the world like she was flying on a cloud.

The tap of a cane below her interrupted her pleasant reverie, and she remembered Rumpelstiltskin, who paced downstairs like an anxious mouse debating whether or not to try for the cheese in the mousetrap.

Belle smiled at the ceiling and leapt out of bed, letting a soft thud echo to the ground below. The pacing stopped, and she felt his eyes on her through the floor, his nervous energy growing stronger now that he would have to face her again.

A simple blue skirt and separate top waited on a chair a few yards from the foot of her bed. She wanted a hot bath, but she felt it should wait until she and Rumpelstiltskin had talked things through: she didn't want to use his things if she turned out to be unwelcome here.

After throwing on the clothes, she flew down the stairs and met her dear friend at the bottom, who appeared as though predicting her exact arrival. Her heart pounded and her mind raced at his face before her once again: so close, she could have kissed him.

Based on their last experience with it, she didn't want to try again. Being homeless was even less pleasant than she had believed it to be, and a stay here would be most welcome after so much time in that little cell.

"Good morning," she chirped cheerfully, attempting to ease the tension. "I'll go get started on making us some breakfast." She walked briskly to the kitchen, letting her heart beat out _1…2…3…_

At last, she heard the tap of the cane behind her, and smiled to herself. She pulled eggs out of some great cold machine as if by magic, cracking them open and heating them in a pan over a small blue flame. Rumpelstiltskin watched her all the while, staring intently at her movements, as though attempting to reacquaint himself with her motions.

Belle smiled at him. "Where are we?" she asked him. "My home," he replied simply. "My new home. Castle got much too large after you left." She giggled and poured the eggs onto a plate. "All right," she said playfully. "If you don't want to tell me, I'll figure it out for myself."

With that, she walked away, yanked open the front door and headed straight out into the neighborhood.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Gold limped out the door, leaning desperately against his cane to reduce the pain in his leg. The running the night before had tired him out and re-awakened his limp leg, leaving him unable to walk as fast as Belle.

Eventually she noticed his pace and slowed down to walk beside him, frozen for a few moments on the cement. She frowned at his obvious pain and examined the cane slowly. "What happened to you?" she asked quietly. "You were all right when I left. I thought perhaps the cane was a way to show your status here."

Gold laughed. "Afraid not, dearie. Without the benefits of my magic in our world, an old war injury keeps me slower than the rest of society." He grimaced at the pain which blossomed from his hurried pace and leaned heavily on the gold and black staff. Belle hurried to catch his crumpling form, cradling his head against her shoulder.

"Come on. We've got to get you back to the house," she announced with an air of confidence. Throwing his arm over her shoulder, she began guiding him back down the sidewalk, up onto his front porch and back into his house.

She assisted him onto the sofa before shutting the door and taking a seat by his side. "Are you in too much pain? How can I help?" she asked, offering her assistance with no thought as to how he received the wound or why he had it here but not in the castle. His explanation had been plain and made sense, and that was all Belle needed before her loving nature took over.

Rumpelstiltskin nodded calmly, his teeth clenched. "There's a little white bottle on the second shelf up in the kitchen," he muttered. "Bring that and a glass of water, if you please." She hastened to obey and brought these things straight back to him, which were gulped down rapidly, and he sighed. "Now we let the medicine kick in, and there you are, right as rain!" he said with a grin.

Belle laughed and knelt next to him on the floor by the sofa. "Now," she said. "I have one question for you."

He nodded calmly, pressing his fingers together. "I'm surprised: only one? Very well then. What would you like to know?"

She pursed her lips. "Have you ever regretted your choice?" she whispered softly.

He stared at her face for a while- her sweet face, so full of life and love, but also lined with suffering from imprisonment below the hospital. She had lost her father and her family when they turned their backs on her, and so now more than ever would she need him. He thought of every day he had spent without her: how he thought of Belle more than of anyone else. He knew he would never give up his power for her- not with the Queen having the advantage right now- but he would love her and protect her as well as he could.

"I have regretted it," he told her quietly. "I regret it every day from the moment I wake up to the moment I sleep again, and even then you visit me in my dreams, you little minx."

Belle smiled and kissed his cheek. "Well then. I do believe we'll make some progress."

Nearby, the Queen drove relentlessly, zooming through every red light and stop sign in her determination to reach Rumpelstiltskin's house. Silent rage filled her as she parked and stormed up the steps: familiar voices talked and laughed inside the old building, and she knew exactly how to knock him back into his place.

She knocked on the door and listened as silence descended over the company within. Gold opened the door, clearly surprised to see her but covering it up quickly. "Good morning, Mayor. How can I help you on this lovely day?"

Regina frowned. "Don't play games with me. Last night a girl went missing from the hospital, and I think you know exactly who I mean, Rumpelstiltskin. I'll have you arrested for kidnapping and removing a legally insane woman from a mental institution."

His smile quickly flipped, and he scowled. "Mental institution? You mean that little rat hole of a cell you kept her in?" he asked softly. The mayor smirked. "The very one," she responded. "Now if you don't mind, I'll be taking her back." She attempted to brush past him, but he held her off and nudged her subtly back onto the front porch. "Now that's all lovely, Regina, but I'm afraid she's not going anywhere with you," he said calmly. The mayor opened her mouth again, but Gold smiled. "Please," he added.

Just like that, the Queen had lost Belle to her lover. She snarled. "This isn't over," she said calmly.

"What's not over?" a voice interrupted.

Both individuals whirled around to find Sheriff Swan standing at the bottom of the steps. "Miss Swan, lovely to see you," Rumpelstiltskin said gaily. "The Mayor and I were just having a little chat." Regina glared at him. "Sheriff, arrest this man!" she ordered.

Emma smirked. "I have no good reason to. He hasn't committed a crime. However," she commented with a grin, "You, Mayor, just ran four traffic lights and three stop signs, so I'm afraid you'll be the one coming to jail with me."

As Emma slapped the cuffs on the Mayor's wrist, Rumpelstiltskin grinned, shut the door, and returned to his dearest friend.

The End! Love, Steel And Ink


End file.
